MOOOILL CREEK CNCHMENT OROU?

MOGGILL CREEK CATCHMENT NEWSLETTER Newsletter of the Catchment Group Spring2O04

BACKYARD gNAKEg

"There is a big snake in my backyard. What should I do?" "Just walk around it" replies Martin Fingland Recently, MCCG held its Mid-Year Public Meeting and invited, as Guest Speaker, Marlin Fingland Senior Ranger from the Parks and Wildlife Service. Based at nearby Forest Park, Martin is farniliar with many of the local wildlife issues and delivered a tallk focusing specifically on reptiles. Despite subzero temperafures, he held everyone's attention for 90 minutes as he displayed a variety of live reptiles, ranging from a juvenile carpet snake to a fully grown bearded dragon- Martin talked about the nature and habits of the reptiles he was showing and dispelled many myths and misconceptions, in particular about snakes. He pointed out that most snakes are more scared of humans than we are of them and generally will move out of our way. Most snakes will only bite in self defence or if tbey are accidentally startled. For this reason snake bites me rare (more people die per yem by falling over in the shower).

The key message he delivered was that we, as humans, have unwittingly provided a habitat for wildlife within our backyards and homes. Wildlife is here to stay and by learning more about the animals we will be more accepting of them and come to appreciate their value.

If you find any injured wildlife, or have any questions about the local wildlife' contact QPWS Witdlife Enquiry and Emergency Number (24hours) 1300,34372

SOME TIPS ON SNAKES Always wear sensible shoes when walking or working in the bush (not thongs!). Do not try to kill a snake, as this will provoke it. If you ari unsure about the identity of a snake, assume that it is poisonous and do not attempt to handle it- (Positive snake iclentihcation can be very diffrcult.) If you hnd a snake skin and want it identilied. you can send it to Headquarters, Mt Nebo R4 Brisbane; telephone number 3300 4855. Kate McVicar Editorial

We hnve decided to restore the Editorial which was discontinued a couple of years ago. It is a convenient place for small things.

The Chairman having jttst returned afur tyvo months awdy, we do not have his usual report, but he has found time to write other things for us.

The Newslet'ter has the nvo main functions of giving notice of events and reportirug happenings which affect our program, and of providing an understanding of plants, animals and lan"d on which it is based. Such depends ior[ety on o t^ofl numbei of contributors wlw thus dominate the Newsletter. But it woald be nice if there were of wider membership participati.on in activities. Surely there are afinng our more than 300 members, some"rfrni"" who have seen, done or thought something of interest to others- We would like to hear from you-

Our climate does not give us the conspicuous seasonal changes which are a feature of higher latitudes- Still, things happen which ire tookcit forwaid n by those interested in nature. Some eagerly await the return of the Chinnel Bill Cuckoot One of the great sights enjoyed by the few who l

Since the MCCG program got under way we have had some miserable rainfall years. This seems to be the worst ever, and it is a bit mach ti hope for real relief in the near future. Nevertheless, quite a lot of planting continues, the three month"s Uay- iuly our nurs,ery gave out 3400 plants- That is well short of our intake of 5600 "duingfor over that period; another reason for our wanting rain to encourage planting. The intake depends greatly on our growing team ofhappy nursery volunteers.

Fireflies

When I was asked to write an article on fireflies I jotted down all I could remember from my days as an entomology student - not much! I then added what I had observed whill fiving at Brookfield - still not sufficienl So I tried the intemet- I found plenty of information on a TV series, a stunt flying unit and a rock band, but very little on the insects. Then I typed in "Lampyridae" and fared better.

Lampyridae is the scientific name for the family of beetles that produce the tiny winking lighs commonly,seen after dusk in Sprir; in the Moggill Creek Catchment area. We are fortunate to have two species in our area, AtyPhella scintillans and LLciaTa nigra. A,thir;d species, Atyphelta atra, is found in the rainforest at Mlclorious. They are most numerous on warm, humid immeaiaLly after dilsk in damp areas such as creek banks and gullies. Few will be seen if it is cool or windy. "n"ii1g. The flashing lights are produced by the male beetles as they fly in search of females sitting on the ground or on.low vegetation. The femalei r"ipond with a weatir flash. They often have reduced wings and d9-not-fly. Fireflies are slow fliers, so you can catch one by mna and turn it over to see two transparent segments at the end of the abdomen where the luminescent organ is located. A go"d photograph of this is seen in the Qutensland Museum publication 'WildIW of Greater Brisbane' of,page92-

The larvae live in leaf litter and feed on snails which they paralyse with a toxic secretion. Larvae also glow but do not flash. They are sometimes erroneously referred to as glow *oil.. Ho*"rr"r, the true glow wonns, such as those seen at Natural Arch in the Numinbah Valley and Waitomo Caves in New Zealand. are larvae of a tiny fly which, as an adult, is not luminescent at all.

Fireflies are found in wann areas wsrldwide. In Ausralia they occur in tbe tropics and down the east ooast zls far as ttre synchrony but this phenomenon Illawarra district. In North Queensland where thoy occur in larger numbers they may fl*h T genera. has not been seen around Briibane. there are twe.nty-fioe spcciei described from clasified in four

Scientists have been fascinated by nannal luminescence for centuries .In 1667 Robert Boyle demonstrated that the light goes which out if deprive,cl of oxygen. In 18Si Raphael Dubois discovered a compouud in luminescent cells that he named luciferin interacts with o*yg.o-io the presend of water and an enzym() ,ru*"d luciferase to produce light- UrliIe our domestic light t"iU.. tn" Ugnr pi&ucrion is extremely efFrcient and very liitlg heat is_geuerated. The insect controls the flashes by varying the of o:xyg; it breaths in. There are many kinds oi luciferin and luciferase found in natue, and similar bioluminescence "*o*tis found in otiir insects, luminous fimgi and many marine organisms including plankton and fish.

Unless we get some rain, this Spring may not be the best for fireflies but there are bound to be some abou! so keep a good seeing the lookout whin you a.re out walking ii the tower lying, damper areas. Children particularly get a great kick out of ( firefly magic gro* o. the light faJes. Everyone lsrows about the benefits of revegetation for birds, and even frogs Summer 2003 MCCG Newsletter) but fueflies will benefit too ) Jan Grigg Glycines ain't Glycines-what's in a name?

One of our conmonest (and nastiest) weeds is popularly known as glycine, but its botanical name is Neonotonia wightii. The plant is a robus! twining legume with tiny pea- flowers. It is capable of totally smothering small trees and other vegetarion- Thsre is also a group of quite cofllmon' locally occurring native plants in the genus Glycine. T\ese are much more delicate and include G. clandestina (twining glycine), G. tabacina (glycine Wa), G. cyrtoloba (no cornmon name) and possibly one or two others. You might wonder why the weed species has the cornmon name glycine - it is quite a complicated story.

Glycine tabacin4 a native woodland species specimens collected in Central Africa and belonged to a genus that we now know as Pueraria. Clearly, the collectors had relied on descriptions for identification rather than checking on the type specimen. The rules say that all plants which are essentially similar to a type specimen should bear tle name given to the type specimen. Thus, in this case, the narre Glycine iavanica should be applied to all those plants similar to the type specimen but then known a's Ptteraia. And, consequently, all plants which were known as Glycine javanica should have a naure. Because of the economic importance of the Glycine: (Neonotonia wighti) is a serious weed in our district different gents Glycine (which includes the crop plant soya bean), Forty years ago the botanical name of the plant we know as the generic name was conserved, but as speciftc names glycine was Glycine iavanica. The name Glycirue comes (with rare exceptions) may not be conserved, the next name from the Greek word ghtktts, meaning sweet (the roots of in priority was used ard our plant became Glycine wightii. some species are reputed to be sweet). It is native to central Noi long after, chromosome and morphological studies Africa and was found to be a good species for grazing showed it to be quite distinct from other species in the livestock and so was released as a pasture plant. In corlmon genus and so it was renamed Neononnia wightii; the other with several other pasture species the genus name served as species, including soybean and our native glycines, a coflrmon narne (cf. lcucaena leucocephala and leucaena)' remained h Glycine. In the Flora of South-eastern Glycine javanica was initially described by Linnaeus (the Queensland, N- wightii is distinguished from Glycine in founder of modern taxonomy and plant nomenclature). It that flowers are in clusters, rather than single. However, was not until the 1960s that the type specimen (i-e. ttre there is no need to worry about counting the flowers as the specimen that is regarded as basis for the species) was weed species is readily recognized, being so much more checked out by a botanist by the name of Bernard robust than the native Glycines' Verdcourt, who found it was quite different from the Bryan Hacker

ONE FREE NATIVE PLANT IN EXCHANGE FOR ONE BAG OF WEEDS!

Weedbuster Week, initiated by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy takes place agqn this year from 16-24 October. The theme for-2D4, 'frghting the weed invaders', focuses on the invasive characteristics of weeds.

Hundreds of activities are held during the week by local governments, community groups, schools and individuals. These may include weed clean-upi, n"ta days and m.ihinery demonstrations, weed identification walks and seminars, ""tl"iUodisplays at shopping cerfiEs. libraries and local councils, and crrnrpetitions.

and Wee,clbuster week aims to raise public awareness of tbe problems weeds cause, and equip communities with the skills knowledge they need to prevent and confrol weeds in their areas- Its success depends upon colnmunlty groups' support.

The MCCG is planning Weedbustcr events at sonre of the Group's local working bee sites. Join in the fun oP and pull a few ieeds! J"ust Uring along gloves, hat and water, and take home a native plant for every bag Your own weeds You bring along!

For further information contact Christiue Hosking on3374 3453 The Moon Memorial Tree Reserve

The foresight and generosity of Bill Moon has provided Brookfield with this unique reserye nestled in the heart of the rural residential development of Moons Lane and Nioka Sr

Generations of Moons have lived in this area since Thomas and Susan Moon purchased a dairy farm in Brooldreld in 1ggl. The land had been mostly cleared for timber in the 1800's but later when orie of their sons, Bill, took over the running of the farm he developed an interest in tree conservation. He set aside one paddock which still contained mature cedar, ioop pine and silky oak, to enable the forest to regenerate.. In 1959, when the dairy farrr was subdivided, Bill the Reserve" so that 7 acres of regenerating forest could be saved for posterity. He estabiished a private-area trustior "Moon dedicated the as a perpetual memorial to his parents and other pioneering families of the district. Bill was well known for his corynitpent to tfe community, acting as local Aldemran on the from 1937 to1955. (I'i'IQ) Following a vigorous campaign within government circles, he won acceptatrce for a National Tnrst of Queensland to as a government starurory f"iy ana bec-anre its fust President it 1963. h 1966 Moon Reserve was officially ftansferred me N1'q, to be kept u. u prUlti" area to revert to original Brooldeld bush and to remind future generations of the early pioneers of Brookfield.

and consists of The Reserye, zoned as "Herirage place - Cultural", is situated on a beud of a tributary of the Moggill Creek u !o*ry o""t nut and trvo niiisiaes. One is covered with hoop pines and the other is of natural dry rainforest which has bg;n ailowed to re.geilerate. The main entrance from MoonJlane (adjac€nt to 213) is an avenue which contains the remaining hoop pinls pkuted in memory of the eady pioneers and there are two cairns in memory of the Moon family and trees lost to drought other piieers. S"r"rA plantlngs have raken place over the years to improve th9 rygerve lnd.replace strikes. The most-recent was in i993 *h", NTQ planted cedars and srlky oaks, including those at the second enua;ce"rJfiinr"ing to the Reserve at 46 Nioka St. While most of the surrounding properties have litrle of the original vegetation many have Vegetation Protection Orders placed on them-

More recently, in April 2W2, asulvey of plant species in the reserve was conducted by B- Hacker and S' Nikles on behalf of NTe. tt showea a good diversity bf *tir" qlecies naturally rcgeneratin-g in both the hoop pine plantation and the dry rainforJst. They notedseveral fine rees in the creek area, including a glanj water- Slm-yd aftg (species uncertain)' as a However, serious enviromental weeds were also evident. Control of cat's claw and climbing asparagus was noted high priority, both for the Reserve and to avoid Moons Lane being a locus of infection for surrounding areas.

In August 2002, Cr Margaret de.Wit organized a public meeting with Pat Comben, President of NTQ, because of on."rtiirty regarding the f]rture of the Reserve due to the financial difficulties of NTQ (recent media reports indicate lack of funds is stil a problem;. At the meeting there was great community response for working with NTQ to remove weed infestations and improve the reserve but nothing hd eventuated. In fact it has been neglected, with uncut grass and uncontrolled weeds.

Bryan Hacker, Chair of MCCG, recently contactedNTQ to express concern about the reserye and suggested ways MCCG could assist with management. As a resulg NTQ will meet with MCCG shortly to discuss it. It is hoped that interested Brookfreld residents *11 nota regular working bees to conffol the weeds and help with suitable revegetation- This is one of few rainforest remoants in Brisbane. and this tranquil roserve has historical and environmental significance offering a wildlife haven, with fresh water evsn in the current dry conditions. For further information:- Judy Walker, tel 337 4I5O5, email ejdwalker@powerup'com'au

Acknowledgments - thearticle includes information provided by Mury Moon and Cotmcillor Margaret deWit. ludy Walker

A Weed to Watch

Our more serious weeds weren't serious or perhaps even noticed until they had got out of hand. Balloon Vine (Catdiosperurum grandiflonrm) does not appear to be a problem in our catchment although it is vcry much so in idjacent areas. A substantial infestation was recently reported within a fcw hundred motres of the Brookfield roundabout. The new owners are working on il. Landholders are asked to watch out for it and if found, remove it or at least inform us. THINGS THAT GO WOOK-WOOKIN THE NIGHT

During June the unmistakable, dog-like, wook-wook call of a Barking Owl was hear{ in ttrree locations in Moggill Creek CatchmirGemR4GreenteesAv.-andBundaleerSt,. InJuly,areliableobserverhemdaduetoftwobirds,indicatinlapfu in one location and was fresenr The female has a higher pitched call than rhe male. Since then a bird has been head regularly it is ihought that this is the male Jut hunting while the female sits quietly in a nearby nest. The site is being monitored to see if successful breeding occurs.

Barking owls (Ninox connivens) are unco[lmon to rare residents in open forest, wood-land-and wooded watercourses in drier counff; mainly west of the Divide; they are ftre visitors to Brisbane. Has the drought forced them eastward?

Barking Owls belong to rhe Hawk-owl family (Strigidae). They have rather hawk-like faces and large yellow eyes. The Strigidie are easily distinguished from the Barn Owl (Tytonidae) family by the lack of the distinct, heart-shaped facial mask of the latter. (Ninox Two other members of the Strigidae occur in the catchment. The more common is the Boobook Owl novaeseelandiae) the night. The Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua). the largest ( whose well-known boo-book oi morepork call is often heard during Australian owl, is sparsely dispersed throughout the area. Its voice has been described as a low. slow, far carrying whoo-hooo' and the bol4 chevron ( The powerful Owl is roiily-It &stinguished-from the Barking and Boobook Owls by its large size, 60cm, markings of its untlerpars. is mdre difficult ro separate the Barking from the Boobook. The Barking Owl is .lightly bigger, 41-45cm,the area *o*a the eye is a pale grey-brown and the upperparts are a shade of grey brown, whereas the Boobook, 30- 35cm, has dark areas around the eyes and the upperparts ate a warm brown'

These three owls nest on decayed debris in tree hollows. They are entirely camivorous preying on marnnals, birds, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates.

Moggill Creek Catchment are Barn owl (Tyto alba), Masked owl (Tyto ' Other members of the owl family recorded from novaehollandiae),Tawny fmgpouth (Podaryus strigoides), Owlet-nightjar (Aegothcles aistatus) and White-throafed Nightjar (Caprimalgas mismcati'1. Oir catchment hi a rich owl fauna ttrat hopefully, can be maintained by proper management of the irooauna"I particularly by retaining the old trees that provide hollows for nest sites. Dawn Beck

A New Manual on Lantana Control

A .Lantana Control Manual' has just been published (Ivlay 2OO4). This 88 page book draws together practical- experience from more than 1,000 lindholders as well as researchers working on lantana a weed classed as a 'Weed of National Signifi cance' .

Sections cover . 'The lantana profile' (description, biology, climatic effects, infestation), . Managing lantana in different production or natural systems, . Control methods and . Planning a control stratsgy.

Appe,ndices include a list of herbicides registered for using on lantana, information sheets on 17 biocontrol agents table detailing control methods linsects and fungi) that have been developed for lantana control and a reference iecommende.d foivarious sifuations (e.g. orchards, pastures, natural ecosyste.rns, etc-)'

The Maaual has been attractively produced, with excellent colour photographs throughout. It includes useful information for the large-scale produ"". as well as those of us living on smaller properties and attempting to restore.a native vegetation system. If ytu have a lantana problem and are wondering how you should tackle the weed, this manual is a 'must have.'

Copies are available for $11.95 + $4.95 postage from NRM&E (phone 3224 8383 for frrther details). Alternatively, MiCG members are welcome ro borrow my copy for a few days (ph.337 4 1468). Bryan Hacker

Do you- Yvant to know what MCCG is and what it does, read Previous Newsletterand more? Then visit our website: wlvw.moggill creek.org.au What PIant is That? What is happening to our

Many of our members want to identiff native plants- How is creeks? that to be done? There are two ways; to ask someone who knows (which is not dealt with here) or to look in the During the f,trst semester of this year, Health students in literature. And to do that, the only convenient thing is to have year 12 at Kenmore High School conducted a ''Water some. Quality Evaluation of Moggill Creek Catchment'' Eigbt sites were tested and six are in our catchment, being: Books are of two kinds. The fust are keys, which in effect Moggill Creek (at Kenmore High School, Brookfield ask a series of questions, the answer to one leading to the Showgrounds, Creekside Park and Rafting Ground Pmk), next and so on until a point is reached where the plant Gap Creek and . specimen has agreed with enough characteristics to distinguish it from all other plants, thus identiffing itself. The Findings: usefulness of a pmticular key is limited to the extent that . All sites except Brooldreld Showgrounds confrrmed species in the area are covered. For us, the only one doing so the presence of E.coli. fully is Flora of South-easteru Queensland, Stanley, T.D. & . Dissolved oxygen (affecting diversity of aquatic Ross, F.M. Qld. Dept. Primary Industries. To use it requires life) at all sites was well below Australia and New a knowledge of tenninology, not overly difhcult for a person Zealand Environment and Conservation Council with a genuine interest in plants, and most useful in being (ANZECC) recorunended guidelines. able to discuss plants with other infonned people. It comes in . Fieldnotes included thepresence ofpollutants such three volumes and is relatively expensive. as beer bottles, rubbish and horse mamne (Gap Creeh Gold Creek and Showgrounds). Non-comprehensive keys ( in species content) are frustrating . Weeds found at the various sites were Lantan4 because the inquirer comes often to dead ends; i.e. the key Madeira Vine, Asparagus Vine, Chinese Elq Duck comes to questions to which the specimen has no answer' Weed, Cats Claw andMoming Glory' Nonetheless, if the user accepts this, we do have a few keys which can be quite useful to the extent that they ae used to The students' conclusion was; "According to the ANZECC identify the corrmoner species, for which the key is guidelines, the evaluation of Moggill Creek Catchment designed. For example, our grasses are well covered in the does not indicate a healthy waterway". A Common Grasses of Moreton and Wide Bay, avulable from Bryan Hacker Gh. 3374 1468) who authored it- If you The MCCG cornmittee is very grateful for the infonnation know you have a wattle, you can identify it quite easily with gained ftom the excellent research conducted by the Key to the Wattles of Greater Brisbane, Environmental Kenmore High students and their teacher Aaron Clohesy, Protection Agency. Likewise,our eucalypts can be sorted out and plans to continue to monitcn the catcbment's water with Eucalypts of Greater Brisbane, Qld Dept. Natural quality (ust as soon as funds can be obtained to purchase Resources, Mines & Energy. the necessary equipment !). Anyone interested in becoming involved in this interesting Then thpre are keys for wider species ranges but based and vital componcnt of our catchment's management is largely or wholly on vegetative characters which are much welcome to confact Christine Hosking ot33743453. easier to handle than detailed parts of flowers. An exaurple, which you might like to look at, is Fragments of Green, Clearly the whole community must be united in taking Janet Hauser & Jan Blok, Austalian Rainforest responsibility for looking after our waterways. The Consewation Society. There are others, but I would give will thank us too! them lower priority for someone starting out in identification. Chis Hosking The other approach is by way of published illustrations (drawings or photographs). In the simplest fomr, one just has to turn the pages until a match is found, which is tiresome if a large number of species are included and frustrating if yours people find these useful. is not! In practice, most The second is Mangroves to Mountairus, Branch of Society for Growing Australian Plants, written Putting Back the Forest is really a must for our catchment, specifically for.a reglon a little south of us although having^ not only for identification but also for much other usefrrl many species in common. It too has some grouping of information. It was written specifically for our region- It uses species to simplify the search. drawings. It too is available from Bryan Hacker The third is the four-vohmrc Native Plants of Queensland, There are three good books based on photographs' Probably Wiltiams, Keith.A.W. CopyRight Publishing Co. It includes the best is Wild Plants of Greater Brisbane, Qld Museum--lt far more species than the two previous although because of is made simpler to use than having to go through the v'hole its wider atea of coverage, many of them do not occur here- book for a match, by grouping plants according to vegetation There is no grouping, necessitating going through from the type (rainforest, open forest etc.) and then within each by beginning, often not to find your plant until a few volumes plant habit (understory, vine etc.). Of course, it is not later. And because of its size, it is expensive. possible to include anything like a full range of species (we have about 2800 in Brisbane!). It can be convenient\ (for at Ofcourse, all three ofthese have a reverse use' Ifyou know least some of our members) obtained from Tina Heybroek a plant naure. you can find what it looks like by entering via (33141401).Otherwise. it is in the bookshops. the index' Graeme wilson Platypus are popping uP in the Moggill Creek Catchment!

Attention all early morning walkers...platyprs (Ornithorhytchus anatinus) are being spotted in Moggill Creek and Gold Creek, Who knows where-else? ne on tne iookout because these shy and unique monofte.mes (egg-luyi"g mammals) are somehow managing to hang on in a landscape which is being rapidly degraded.

In atldition to their 'icon' status, platypus are also very important because they are excellent indicators of how healthy our waterways are.

Platypus-H^ need a habitat that: . cl"ar creeks that are not choked with exotic water weeds (such as Salvinia and Water Hyacinth), . Is not affected by algae bloom (cattle grazing along the creeks and other sources ofnutrients such as leaking septic systems can cause this), . Are not Iittered or polluted by chemicals used in gardens and in the home that run off into our creeks, . Have plenty of stabilising native vegetation along the banks and . Have logs and fallen branches for protection over their burrows'

They are very sensitive to disturtances such as noise, people and dogs that have been known to kill platypus- Their diet includes inselt hrvae, freshwater shrimps, fish and crayfish-food found in healthy creeks.

The best time to see platypus in the catchment is between 6 and 7am. At a distance, it is easy to confuse them with the native Australian water rats and freshwater turtles so look carefully. The rat will have a white tip on its tail, no duck- bill and can also be seen out of the water. Signs that platypus may be present include a series of bubbles rising to the surface and a small circular 'wake' made as they move along underwater.

Please reporr any platypus sightings to chris Hosking on33'l43453.Haypy spotting!

Christine Hosking

Plant FamilieS, 2 - Myttaceae cmes from the-colnmon nane myrtle, a well The Family Myrtaceae-E*op", takes its name from the genus Myrtus which in hrrr known plani of with the genus being *iaespreua arormd the wodd including Australia; bur it is not bcre in our also catchment. In facg tfre famity is mole abundani in the iouthem hemisphore, particularly Australia and Soutb America but Africa. That is not surprising if you recall that all three continents were once a single land mass,

tre€s' shrubs and lt is a medium sized family, comprising about 100 genera with some 3000 species. They are all woody plmts; a few low creepers. As in most families there is no iingle chmacter which sets it apary from others. Notwithstanding-thal.thcre and ftuits are often rich in !s widespread ua1org species of My'taceae a stiking Iharacteri_stiq. Leaves, yormg shoots, flowers =;;;if.iir, * rn"i,nlrse parts are aromatic * t fr*r when bruised- In the leaves, the.se oils are s€en, wben viewed against put a the light, as iranslucent dos. ( Remember, though, that there are other families with this character, so it alone does not porr"i.o, in the Myrtaceae-) You are all familim with eucalyptus and tea tree oils (from this family)' Our is While tre family does nor. on a world scale, have a large number of species, it is strongly represented i".lr..qlil flora than mything el-ee, which remains so in our catcbment. The family is divided into two p-UuUty'*rt -o* 6o* for its eucalypts t*niti"r bn among ottrer rhinii the typd of fruir- In one, rlrey are d4r nuts or capsules (think of gum nuts), and it is predominant in austruiia; while in- the other they are juicy berries or dn4res and comprise most species elsewhere. of the ior,,"r, we know right here at least these genera: Aigoph"ora, Backhousia, Baeckea, Callistemon, CoUmbia, Eucalyptus, Lophostemon, Melileuca, Tristania arrd iristaniaopsis. Among the latter are Acmena, Austromyrtus, Decaspermum, Rho damnia, Rho domy ttus, arrd Sy4t gium- at Our species me economically important for timbsr, as ornamentals and the various uses of oils. while some enlhusiasts look food-flivouring potential. ,nfnil" f"* have edible fruil it is more a matter of being able to eat them than particularly wanting are to do so! As a matter of interest however," there are a number of exotics which ratc well in lhose respects. For_example thqrg cloves (dried flower bods of a species of .Sl6ygilrm) and allqpice from East Africa important fruits from S.E.Asla and both with tbe guavas and the Brazilian (as we.itti l cherry iiom !.Ameri*. Thes" latt€r two have long been established in Ausualia lon a a serious pest in some places and the o6er with the appearance of being able to do the same thing.

Notwithstanding economic use of, or any other interest in individual species, in the context of our activities all specils native to the area have the same and only use; that of presence.

Graeme Wilson As our current Secretary, Kate McVicar, will be resigning in November this year we are looking tor a volunteer who is willing to take on this activity. The primary function of the Secretary is to organise the monthly Committee Meetings, which involves the circulation of an Agenda and Monthly report. The Secretary also takes minutes and circulates those to Committee members. The primary method of communication is by email and it is therefore desirable that the Secretary have a Personal Computer and knowledge of Microsoft Office (Mainly MS Word).

Here are some comments from Kate regarding the role:

My two yeare as MCCG Secrebary hae hcen a wonderful expcrlgnoe - I have iet so many intereotin7, knowlod4eable and friendly people and I have made ffnny new friendel Through MCCG I have learnt much about our Catohment AreA, about natlve planta and about native animals. Through MCCO I have attended numerois workohopo, includin7 Seed Collection and Tlant ?ropa6ation, all of v,rhich have helped me on my own propefty' I can truly aay I eniiyed every minute of bein6 ihe Secretary and vvhilst I am reoigning as 1icreUry, l-am not teavinq MCCG. t am aimply ehifting my fgcue - I will be pa*ioip*ina in wo*inq bZee and spend morC time in the fiald identifyinq 'plants' and Zaltectina siede. t will alelo continuc to help oub the Committee on 'other levele. 9o, for-anyone who is intereatcd, thiE is a'GREAT opporEunity.

If you want to know more about the iob, pleaae qive me a call on 55741471. Kate

Habitat Brisbane (Bushcare) working bees - dates andsection leaders

Section I Rafting Ground No set times Claire Laycock 3878 5336 2 Lower Mogill Creek 3rd Sun 8.30-l 1.30 Rob Waller 3378 6897 3 Huntingdon Last Sun 8.30- I I 30 Malcolm Frost 3374 0649 4 Showgrounds No set times Peter Nielsen 3374 156l 5 Haven Road No set times Don Mumford 1374 1348 Tina Heybroek 3374 l40l 6 UPP"t Brookfield lst Sun 8.0G I 1.00 Darryl O'Brien 3374 4964 8 Won& Creek Last Sun 9.@- 12.00 Graeme Wilson 3374 l2l8 9 UPP". Gold Creek Approx. 6 weekly Gordon Grigg 3174 1737 I I McKay Brook 3rd Sun 8.30- I 1.00 Bryan Hacker 3374 1468 I st Sat 2.00-5.00 12 Gap Creek 4th Sun 8.30- I 1.00 Michael Humphreys 3374 1467

Editor: Graeme Wilson, Ph 337'4 l2 l8 Formatting: Margaret Hastie Printing: John Gower